Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Early Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Congenital Heart Surgery Programs Across The World: Assessment By A Global Multi-Societal Consortium., Eleftherios M. Protopapas, Mauro Lo Rito, Vladimiro L. Vida, George E. Sarris, Christo I. Tchervenkov, Bohdan J. Maruszewski, Zdzislaw Tobota, Bistra Zheleva, Hao Zhang, Jeffery P. Jacobs, Joseph A. Dearani, Elizabeth H. Stephens, James S. Tweddell, Nestor F. Sandoval, Emile A. Bacha, Erle H. Austin, Kisaburo Sakamoto, Sachin Talwar, Hiromi Kurosawa, Zohair Y Al Halees, Marcello B. Jatene, Krishna S. Iyer, Cheul Lee, Rajesh Sharma, Yasutaka Hirata, Frank Edwin, Jorge L. Cervantes, James O'Brien, James D. St Louis, James K. Kirklin, Covid-19 International Congenital Heart Surgery Taskforce

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic currently gripping the globe is impacting the entire health care system with rapidly escalating morbidities and mortality. Although the infectious risk to the pediatric population appears low, the effects on children with congenital heart disease (CHD) remain poorly understood. The closure of congenital heart surgery programs worldwide to address the growing number of infected individuals could have an unintended impact on future health for COVID-19-negative patients with CHD. Pediatric and congenital heart surgeons, given their small numbers and close relationships, are uniquely positioned to collectively assess the impact of the pandemic on surgical practice …

Identifying Genetic Factors That Contribute To The Increased Risk Of Congenital Heart Defects In Infants With Down Syndrome., Cristina E. Trevino, Aaron M. Holleman, Holly Corbitt, Cheryl L. Maslen, Tracie C. Rosser, David J. Cutler, H Richard Johnston, Benjamin L. Rambo-Martin, Jai Oberoi, Kenneth J. Dooley, George T. Capone, Roger H. Reeves, Heather J. Cordell, Bernard D. Keavney, A J Agopian, Elizabeth Goldmuntz, Peter J. Gruber, James O'Brien, Douglas C. Bittel, Lalita Wadhwa, Clifford L. Cua, Jennifer G. Mulle, Michael P. Epstein, Stephanie L. Sherman, Michael E. Zwick

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Atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD) are a severe congenital heart defect present in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) at a > 2000-fold increased prevalence compared to the general population. This study aimed to identify risk-associated genes and pathways and to examine a potential polygenic contribution to AVSD in DS. We analyzed a total cohort of 702 individuals with DS with or without AVSD, with genomic data from whole exome sequencing, whole genome sequencing, and/or array-based imputation. We utilized sequence kernel association testing and polygenic risk score (PRS) methods to examine rare and common variants. Our findings suggest that the Notch pathway, particularly …

Serious Neonatal Morbidities Are Associated With Differences In Dna Methylation Among Very Preterm Infants., Todd M. Everson, T Michael O'Shea, Amber Burt, Karen Hermetz, Brian S. Carter, Jennifer Helderman, Julie A. Hofheimer, Elisabeth C. Mcgowan, Charles R. Neal, Steven L. Pastyrnak, Lynne M. Smith, Antoine Soliman, Sheri A. Dellagrotta, Lynne M. Dansereau, James F. Padbury, Barry M. Lester, Carmen J. Marsit

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BACKGROUND: Infants born very preterm are more likely to experience neonatal morbidities compared to their term peers. Variations in DNA methylation (DNAm) associated with these morbidities may yield novel information about the processes impacted by these morbidities.

METHODS: This study included 532 infants born < 30 weeks gestation, participating in the Neonatal Neurobehavior and Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants study. We used a neonatal morbidity risk score, which was an additive index of the number of morbidities experienced during the NICU stay, including bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), severe brain injury, serious neonatal infections, and severe retinopathy of prematurity. DNA was collected from buccal cells at discharge from the NICU, and DNAm was measured using the Illumina MethylationEPIC. We tested for differential methylation in association with the neonatal morbidity risk score then tested for differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and overrepresentation of biological pathways.

RESULTS: We identified ten differentially methylated CpGs (α Bonferroni-adjusted for 706,278 tests) that were associated with increasing neonatal morbidity risk scores at three intergenic regions and at HPS4, SRRD, FGFR1OP, TNS3, TMEM266, LRRC3B, ZNF780A, and TENM2. These mostly followed dose-response patterns, for 8 CpGs increasing DNAm associated with increased numbers of morbidities, while for 2 CpGs …

Fosl1 Is A Novel Mediator Of Endotoxin/Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Pulmonary Angiogenic Signaling., Christopher R. Nitkin, Sheng Xia, Heather Menden, Wei Yu, Min Xiong, Daniel P. Heruth, Shui Qing Ye, Venkatesh Sampath

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Systemic sepsis is a known risk factor for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature infants, a disease characterized by dysregulated angiogenesis and impaired vascular and alveolar development. We have previoulsy reported that systemic endotoxin dysregulates pulmonary angiogenesis resulting in alveolar simplification mimicking BPD in neonatal mice, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We undertook an unbiased discovery approach to identify novel signaling pathways programming sepsis-induced deviant lung angiogenesis. Pulmonary endothelial cells (EC) were isolated for RNA-Seq from newborn C57BL/6 mice treated with intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic systemic sepsis. LPS significantly differentially-regulated 269 genes after 6 h, and 1,934 genes after …

Failure To Thrive - An Overlooked Manifestation Of Kmt2b-Related Dystonia: A Case Presentation., Andrew Ng, Serena Galosi, Lisa Salz, Terence Wong, Caitlin Schwager, Shivarajan Amudhavalli, Rose N. Gelineau-Morel, Shimul Chowdhury, Rady Children’S Institute For Genomic Medicine Investigators, Jennifer Friedman

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BACKGROUND: KMT2B-related dystonia is a recently described form of childhood onset dystonia that may improve with deep brain stimulation. Prior reports have focused on neurologic features including prominent bulbar involvement without detailing general health consequences that may result from orolingual dysfunction. We describe a family with novel KMT2B mutation with several members with failure to thrive to highlight this non-neurologic, but consequential impact of mutation in this gene.

CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a 15-year old female who was admitted and evaluated for failure to thrive. On exam, she had severe speech dysfluency, limited ability to protrude the …

Facing Real-World Challenges Of Immunogenicity In Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease., Kyle Gress, Julie A. Bass, Ryan S Funk, Ryan Morrow, Rachel Hasenkamp, Valentina Shakhnovich

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No abstract provided.

Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia In Patients With Complex Congenital Heart Disease And Twin Atrioventricular Nodes., John Papagiannis, Christopher Mathis, Lindsey Malloy-Walton, Svjetlana Tisma-Dupanovic

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No abstract provided.

Impact Of Slco1b1 Genetic Variation On Rosuvastatin Systemic Exposure In Pediatric Hypercholesterolemia., Jonathan B. Wagner, Susan M. Abdel-Rahman, Andrea Gaedigk, R Gaedigk, Geetha Raghuveer, Vincent S. Staggs, Leon Van Haandel, J Steven Leeder

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This study investigated the impact of SLCO1B1 genotype on rosuvastatin systemic exposure in hypercholesterolemic children and adolescents. Participants (8-21 years) with at least one allelic variant of SLCO1B1 c.521T>C (521TC, n = 13; 521CC, n = 2) and wild type controls (521TT, n = 13) completed a single oral dose pharmacokinetic study. The variability contributed by SLCO1B1 c.521 sequence variation to rosuvastatin (RVA) systemic exposure among our pediatric cohort was comparable to previous studies in adults. RVA concentration-time curve from 0-24 hours (AUC

Targeting Natural Killer Cells For Improved Immunity And Control Of The Adaptive Immune Response., Stephen Pierce, Eric S. Geanes, Todd Bradley

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Natural killer (NK) cells are critical for targeting and killing tumor, virus-infected and stressed cells as a member of the innate immune system. Recently, NK cells have also emerged as key regulators of adaptive immunity and have become a prominent therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy and infection control. NK cells display a diverse array of phenotypes and function. Determining how NK cells develop and are regulated is critical for understanding their role in both innate and adaptive immunity. In this review we discuss current research approaches into NK cell adaptive immunity and how these cells are being harnessed for improving …

The Role Of Alternative Mrna Splicing In Heart Development, Douglas Bittel, Nataliya Kibiryeva, Naoya Kenmochi, Prakash Patil, Tamayo Uechi, Brenda Rongish, Mike Filla, Jennifer A. Marshall, Michael Artman, Rajasingh Johnson, James E. O'Brien

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Research in the last 10 years has led to improved understanding of the genetic regulation of vertebrate heart development, but despite this effort, approximately 70% of all congenital heart defects (CHDs) still have an unknown etiology. Alternative splicing of mRNA has been documented to play roles in normal and abnormal development. Dysregulated splicing of mRNA has been shown to cause heart defects in mice, however a link between mRNA splicing and CHDs has not yet been shown in humans. We reported that more than 50% of genes associated with heart development were alternatively spliced in the right ventricle (RV) of …

A Ten-Year Retrospective Evaluation Of Acute Flaccid Myelitis At 5 Pediatric Centers In The United States, 2005-2014., Margaret M. Cortese, Anita K. Kambhampati, Jennifer E. Schuster, Zaid Alhinai, Gary R. Nelson, Gloria J. Guzman Perez-Carrillo, Arastoo Vossough, Michael A. Smit, Robert C. Mckinstry, Timothy Zinkus, Kevin R. Moore, Jeffrey M. Rogg, Meghan S. Candee, James J. Sejvar, Sarah E. Hopkins

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BACKGROUND: Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a severe illness similar to paralytic poliomyelitis. It is unclear how frequently AFM occurred in U.S. children after poliovirus elimination. In 2014, an AFM cluster was identified in Colorado, prompting passive US surveillance that yielded 120 AFM cases of unconfirmed etiology. Subsequently, increased reports were received in 2016 and 2018. To help inform investigations on causality of the recent AFM outbreaks, our objective was to determine how frequently AFM had occurred before 2014, and if 2014 cases had different characteristics.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study covering 2005-2014 at 5 pediatric centers in 3 …

Prevalence Of Sensorineural Hearing Loss In Children With Palliated Or Repaired Congenital Heart Disease., Lalitha Gopineti, Mane Paulpillai, Andrea Rosenquist, Andrew H. Van Bergen

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Background Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental deficits, and the presence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) may further lead to poor language skills acquisition and speech delays. Prevalence of SNHL in the general pediatric population is estimated to be 0.2% at birth to 0.35% during adolescence. Very few studies have attempted to estimate SNHL prevalence in children who have undergone congenital heart surgery. Methods This retrospective study aimed to estimate SNHL prevalence in children who underwent congenital heart surgery in our institution and were followed up in our high-risk pediatric cardiology clinics for four …

Patent Urachus, Kayla B. Briggs, Rebecca M. Rentea

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atent urachus refers to one condition in a rare spectrum of disorders referred to as urachal anomalies. These conditions result from the failure of the involution of normal embryologic tissues that serve to empty the fetal bladder. The location and amount of persistent tissue dictate the presenting symptoms. Some of these urachal anomalies are obvious at birth, while others are more subtle and not diagnosed until adulthood or only incidentally discovered after imaging is obtained for other reasons. Historically, surgical resection of urachal anomalies was routinely undertaken, given the potential for malignancy in retained ectopic tissue. Early surgical resection has …

Rna Sequencing Of Human Peripheral Nerve In Response To Injury: Distinctive Analysis Of The Nerve Repair Pathways., Andrew S. Welleford, Jorge E. Quintero, Nader El Seblani, Eric Blalock, Sumedha Gunewardena, Steven M. Shapiro, Sean M. Riordan, Peter Huettl, Zain Guduru, John A. Stanford, Craig G. Van Horne, Greg A. Gerhardt

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The development of regenerative therapies for central nervous system diseases can likely benefit from an understanding of the peripheral nervous system repair process, particularly in identifying potential gene pathways involved in human nerve repair. This study employed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology to analyze the whole transcriptome profile of the human peripheral nerve in response to an injury. The distal sural nerve was exposed, completely transected, and a 1 to 2 cm section of nerve fascicles was collected for RNA-seq from six participants with Parkinson's disease, ranging in age between 53 and 70 yr. Two weeks after the initial injury, another …

Hypomorphic Si Genetic Variants Are Associated With Childhood Chronic Loose Stools., Bruno P Chumpitazi, Jeffery Lewis, Derick Cooper, Mauro D'Amato, Joel Lim, Sandeep Gupta, Adrian Miranda, Natalie Terry, Devendra Mehta, Ann Scheimann, Molly O'Gorman, Neelesh Tipnis, Yinka Davies, Joel Friedlander, Heather Smith, Jaya Punati, Julie Khlevner, Mala Setty, Carlo Di Lorenzo

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OBJECTIVE: The SI gene encodes the sucrase-isomaltase enzyme, a disaccharidase expressed in the intestinal brush border. Hypomorphic SI variants cause recessive congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (CSID) and related gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Among children presenting with chronic, idiopathic loose stools, we assessed the prevalence of CSID-associated SI variants relative to the general population and the relative GI symptom burden associated with SI genotype within the study population.

METHODS: A prospective study conducted at 18 centers enrolled 308 non-Hispanic white children ≤18 years old who were experiencing chronic, idiopathic, loose stools at least once per week for >4 weeks. Data on demographics, GI …

Ileal Atresia, Obiyo O. Osuchukwu, Rebecca M. Rentea

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Ileal and jejunal atresias are usually described together as jejunoileal atresia (JIA). JIA is a common cause of intestinal obstruction in neonates. It is seen in 1 in 5000 to 1 in 14000 live births. Intestinal atresia can occur in any location on the small bowel as a solitary or even multiple lesions. Distally located atresia usually presents with delayed symptoms compared to proximal ones. Occasionally, JIA is associated with other malformations such as cardiac anomalies, gastroschisis, and cystic fibrosis. Evaluation can be initiated before birth with prenatal diagnosis using ultrasound findings of evidence of intestinal obstruction reported in 29% …

Pentalogy Of Cantrell, Muhammad Khawar Sana, Rebecca M. Rentea

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Pentalogy of Cantrell (POC) is a collection of five congenital midline birth anomalies that present a distinctive challenge for clinicians and surgeons. Those five defects are of the heart, pericardium, diaphragm, sternum, and abdominal wall. This condition has been divided into two categories, complete or partial. Complete, as the name indicates, refers to the presence of all five defects, while others may present with only partial defects. It is also referred to as thoracoabdominal ectopia cordis, a condition where the heart is covered by an omphalocele-like membrane. Ectopia cordis (EC) is often found in fetuses with POC. Infants usually have …

Morgagni Hernia, Wendy Jo Svetanoff, Rebecca M. Rentea

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A Morgagni hernia is one of four types of diaphragmatic hernias; the other types include a Bochdalek hernia, where the defect is posterolateral, a hiatal hernia, where the defect is at the esophageal hiatus, and a paraesophageal hernia, where the defect is located adjacent to the esophageal hiatus. The Morgagni hernia, in which the defect is found in an anterior and retrosternal location, was first described by Morgagni in 1769. It is rarer than the other type of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (Bochdalek hernia) and comprises only 2% to 5% of all congenital diaphragmatic hernias. Morgagni hernias tend to be less …

Gastroschisis, Rebecca M. Rentea, Vikas Gupta

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Gastroschisis is a paraumbilical, full-thickness abdominal wall defect associated with protrusion of the bowel through the defect. It is rarely associated with genetic conditions. A membrane does not cover the bowel exposed in utero and, as a result, may be matted, dilated, and covered with a fibrinous inflammatory rind. Infants have a high proportion of intrauterine growth restriction. Diagnosis is often made on the 20-week ultrasound with free-floating bowel loops in the uterine cavity. Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is elevated in pregnancies with gastroschisis. Compared with other abdominal wall defects diagnosed prenatally such as omphalocele, only 10 percent of cases …

Anticipation, Accompaniment, And A Good Death In Perinatal Care., Bryanna S. Moore, Brian S. Carter, Bryan Beaven, Katie House, Joel House

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The ethics of perinatal care, and the experiences of families who receive such care, remains a nascent area of inquiry. It can be hard to see how existing "good death" constructs apply to the experiences of fetal patients and their families. In this paper, we explore two themes raised by a case at our fetal health center: anticipation and accompaniment. In this case, a mother presented to our fetal health center; her unborn son, our fetal patient, was diagnosed with life-threatening hypoplastic left heart syndrome and endocardial fibroelastosis. The parents were told that their son's life expectancy, upon birth, was …

Nearly Complete Genome Sequences Of 17 Enterovirus D68 Strains From Kansas City, Missouri, 2018, Suman B. Pakala, Yi Tan, Ferdaus Hassan, Annie Mai, Robert H. Markowitz, Meghan H. Shilts, Seesandra V. Rajagopala, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Suman R. Das

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Here, we report 17 nearly complete genome sequences of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) isolated from Kansas City, MO, in 2018. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that these strains belong to subclade B3, similar to the ones that caused the 2016 epidemics in the United States but different from the 2014 outbreak B1 strains.

Pain, Functional Disability, And Their Association In Juvenile Fibromyalgia Compared To Other Pediatric Rheumatic Diseases., Mark Connelly, Jennifer E Weiss, Carra Registry Investigators

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BACKGROUND: Severe pain and impairments in functioning are commonly reported for youth with juvenile fibromyalgia. The prevalence and impact of pain in other diseases commonly managed in pediatric rheumatology comparatively have been rarely systematically studied. The objective of the current study was to determine the extent to which high levels of pain and functional limitations, and the strength of their association, are unique to youth with juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome/JPFS) relative to other pediatric rheumatic diseases.

METHODS: Using data from 7753 patients enrolled in the multinational Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Legacy Registry, we compared the levels and …

Pharmacometabolomics Of Respiratory Phenotypic Response To Dexamethasone In Preterm Infants At Risk For Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia., Tamorah R. Lewis Md Phd, Prabhakar Chalise, Cheri Gauldin, William E. Truog

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A prospective cohort study was performed in preterm infants less than 32 weeks gestation at birth who were treated with dexamethasone for developing or established bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Respiratory phenotype (Respiratory Severity Score (RSS)), serum, and urine metabolomics were assessed before and after treatment. Ten infants provided nine matched serum and nine matched urine samples. There was a significant decrease in RSS with steroid treatment. Serum gluconic acid had the largest median fold change (140 times decreased, P = 0.008). In metabolite set enrichment analysis, in both serum and urine, the urea cycle, ammonia recycling, and malate-aspartate shuttle pathways were …

Comparison Of Echocardiographic Measurements To Invasive Measurements Of Diastolic Function In Infants With Single Ventricle Physiology: A Report From The Pediatric Heart Network Infant Single Ventricle Trial., Suma P. Goudar, Victor Zak, Andrew M. Atz, Karen Altmann, Steven D. Colan, Christine B. Falkensammer, Mark K. Friedberg, Michele Frommelt, Kevin D. Hill, Daphne T. Hsu, Jami C. Levine, Renee Margossian, Christopher R. Mart, Joshua Sticka, Peter Shrader, Girish S. Shirali, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators

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BACKGROUND: While echocardiographic parameters are used to quantify ventricular function in infants with single ventricle physiology, there are few data comparing these to invasive measurements. This study correlates echocardiographic measures of diastolic function with ventricular end-diastolic pressure in infants with single ventricle physiology prior to superior cavopulmonary anastomosis.

METHODS: Data from 173 patients enrolled in the Pediatric Heart Network Infant Single Ventricle enalapril trial were analysed. Those with mixed ventricular types (n = 17) and one outlier (end-diastolic pressure = 32 mmHg) were excluded from the analysis, leaving a total sample size of 155 patients. Echocardiographic measurements were correlated to …

A Population Pharmacokinetic Model For Simvastatin And Its Metabolites In Children And Adolescents., Kayode Ogungbenro, Jonathan B. Wagner, Susan M. Abdel-Rahman, J Steven Leeder, Aleksandra Galetin

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PURPOSE: Poor adherence to dietary/behaviour modifications as interventions for hypercholesterolemia in paediatric patients often necessitates the initiation of statin therapy. The aim of this study was to develop a joint population pharmacokinetic model for simvastatin and four metabolites in children and adolescents to investigate sources of variability in simvastatin acid exposure in this patient population, in addition to SLCO1B1 genotype status.

METHODS: Plasma concentrations of simvastatin and its four metabolites, demographic and polymorphism data for OATP1B1 and CYP3A5 were analysed utilising a population pharmacokinetic modelling approach from an existing single oral dose (10 mg < 17 years and 20 mg ≥ 18 years) pharmacokinetic dataset of 32 children and adolescents.

RESULTS: The population PK model included …

Burden Of Disease In Pediatric Patients With Hypophosphatasia: Results From The Hpp Impact Patient Survey And The Hpp Outcomes Study Telephone Interview., Eric T. Rush, Scott Moseley, Anna Petryk

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BACKGROUND: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare, inherited, metabolic bone disease caused by deficient tissue-non-specific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase activity that manifests as a broad range of signs/symptoms, including bone mineralization defects and systemic complications. The burden of disease is poorly characterized, particularly in children. This study aimed to characterize the patient-reported burden of disease among children with HPP using two survey instruments: the HPP Impact Patient Survey (HIPS) and the HPP Outcomes Study Telephone interview (HOST).

METHODS: Between September 2009 and June 2011, pediatric patients (aged younger than 18 years) with HPP were recruited to participate in the study via …

Recommendations For The Design Of Therapeutic Trials For Neonatal Seizures., Janet S. Soul, Ronit Pressler, Marilee Allen, Geraldine Boylan, Heike Rabe, Ron Portman, Pollyanna Hardy, Sarah Zohar, Klaus Romero, Brian Tseng, Varsha Bhatt-Mehta, Cecil Hahn, Scott Denne, Stephane Auvin, Alexander Vinks, John Lantos, Neil Marlow, Jonathan M. Davis, International Neonatal Consortium

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Although seizures have a higher incidence in neonates than any other age group and are associated with significant mortality and neurodevelopmental disability, treatment is largely guided by physician preference and tradition, due to a lack of data from well-designed clinical trials. There is increasing interest in conducting trials of novel drugs to treat neonatal seizures, but the unique characteristics of this disorder and patient population require special consideration with regard to trial design. The Critical Path Institute formed a global working group of experts and key stakeholders from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies, neonatal nurse associations, and patient advocacy …

Direct Lung Sampling Indicates That Established Pathogens Dominate Early Infections In Children With Cystic Fibrosis., Peter Jorth, Zarmina Ehsan Md, Amir Rezayat, Ellen Caldwell, Christopher Pope, John J. Brewington, Christopher H. Goss, Dan Benscoter, John P. Clancy, Pradeep K. Singh

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Culture and sequencing have produced divergent hypotheses about cystic fibrosis (CF) lung infections. Culturing suggests that CF lungs are uninfected before colonization by a limited group of CF pathogens. Sequencing suggests diverse communities of mostly oral bacteria inhabit lungs early on and diversity decreases as disease progresses. We studied the lung microbiota of CF children using bronchoscopy and sequencing, with measures to reduce contamination. We found no evidence for oral bacterial communities in lung lavages that lacked CF pathogens. Lavage microbial diversity varied widely, but decreases in diversity appeared to be driven by increased CF pathogen abundance, which reduced the …

Identification Of Inadvertent Azygous Vein Cannulation Using Transthoracic Echocardiography During Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Initiation., Bethany Runkel, Jason D. Fraser, John Daniel, Karina M. Carlson

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It is well known that optimal cannula positioning during initiation of venoarterial (VA) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is directly related to ECMO circuit function. Malpositioned cannulae can have deleterious effects on clinical outcomes, and inadvertent cannulation of the azygous vein during initiation of ECMO is a rare but potentially devastating complication that has been reported only a few times in the literature. Here we report a case of azygous vein cannulation in a neonate that was not identified on chest radiography but was recognized and corrected expeditiously with the use of transthoracic echocardiography.

The Children's Oncology Group: Organizational Structure, Membership, And Institutional Characteristics., Janice S. Withycombe, Todd A. Alonzo, Michele A. Wilkins-Sanchez, Maxine Hetherington, Peter C. Adamson, Wendy Landier

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BACKGROUND: The Children's Oncology Group (COG) is the only organization within the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network dedicated exclusively to pediatric cancer research. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of COG's organizational structure, to characterize its institutional and individual membership, and to summarize enrollments onto COG clinical trials.

METHOD: Data from 2013 to 2015 were compiled from sources internal (Network Operations, Statistics and Data Center, Chair's Office) and external (American Hospital Association, American Nurses Credentialing Center) to COG, to present a comprehensive overview of COG's structure, individual and institutional membership, and group operations.

RESULTS: …